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This paper reflects on the conditions necessary for psychology as a discipline by exploring the historical and philosophical foundations of the concept of 'self' from ancient to modern thought. Faulconer and Williams argue that understanding the evolution of the self leads to a greater appreciation of contemporary Continental philosophy, especially in overcoming limitations of modern epistemology. The text emphasizes the role of language, theory, and embodied existence in shaping psychological inquiry, culminating in a call for a re-examination of foundational concepts within the field.
The period of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, known as late antiquity, gave rise to some of the elements that have since constituted the identity of the Western self, alongside new lines of psychological investigation. This article seeks to show that these developments constitute an important stage in the history of Western psychology. It argues, moreover, that without these developments there could be no modern discipline of psychology. Psychology, however, did not exist in the ancient world as an independent science, nor was a distinction drawn between scientific and moral or religious elements of psychological knowledge. Accordingly, this important source of evidence has been neglected by scholars investigating the history of Western psychology, who have tended to focus on the 19th-century roots of scientific psychology. While this is, indeed, the only part of the history of psychology that has a relatively un-problematical subject matter, this article argues for the need to broaden the focus on the history of the discipline of psychology to include the history of psychological knowledge, and seeks to make this important source of evidence available for scholars other than historians of late antiquity.
This paper explores and integrates the concepts learned throughout a course on the history of modern psychology by analyzing psychology’s historical (i.e., Pre-modernism, Modernism, and Post-modernism), philosophical, and empirical underpinnings and their role in helping to shape the important psychological theories and issues of contemporary psychology; by analyzing the relevance of the issues of diversity as they are relate to the history of psychology, and by discussing the effect that Humanism has upon the writer’s chosen career path.
The article addresses Daniel Robinson’s claim that the term, “modern psychology” is vague and imprecise. It points out that there is general agreement that the modern period of history begins no later than 1500 and that any psychology that existed after this date can be legitimately described as “modern.” It also suggests that the qualifier, “modern” is superfluous since there was no psychology prior to 1500.
Recent transformations in the history and philosophy of science have led historians of psychology to raise questions about the future development of their historiography. Although there is a dominant tendency among them to view their discipline as related to the social turn in the history of science, there is no consensus over how to approach methodologically the history of psychology. The aim of this paper is to address the issue of the future of the historiography of psychology, by proposing an alternative, yet complementary path for the field, which I call a philosophical history of psychology. In order to achieve this goal, I will first present and discuss the emergence of the social turn in the history of psychology, showing some of its problems. Then I will introduce the contemporary debate about the integration of the history of science and the philosophy of science as an alternative model for the history of psychology. Finally, I will propose general guidelines for a philosophical history of psychology, discussing some of its potentials and limitations. Keywords: history of psychology; history of science; philosophy of science.
In 1994, Kurt Danziger published an article in Theory & Psychology with the title, " Does the history of psychology have a future? " The article attracted a great deal of controversy and is now listed on the journal's website as one of the most cited articles in its history. After providing a synopsis of Danziger's article, I discuss some of the issues that emerged from the controversy that followed its publication. I also ask if the position of the history of psychology has changed in the intervening years. We are already in the future that Danziger discussed, even if it is only the near future, and the situation may look different from here. After pointing out that Danziger himself has changed his views on this subject, I suggest that it does look different. The editorial ends with an introduction to the articles in the special issue and some reflections on the importance of understanding the context in which historians of psychology work.
2016
In this chapter, I comment on the ten aspects listed by Roger Smith to show the usefulness of historical research in psychology. Thereby, I characterize and evaluate different historiographic trends. History should be seen as a way of acquiring perspective, and it should offer a conceptual tool for comparison between different epistemological approaches. It is also instrumental in analysis of the social dynamics involved in knowledge construction. In general, therefore, a connection between the history of psychology and the broader field of the history of science seems fruitful.
Pre-modern, modern, and postmodern frames of reference have all helped shape important contemporary psychological theories and issues. In this reflection paper, I attempt to walk through and revisit areas covered in a psychology course, the end aim being to gain a measure of insight into where the field of psychology stands today.
Re-envisioning Theoretical Psychology, 2019
While traditional conceptions of theoretical psychology focus on epistemological and methodological aspects of psychological theories, recent approaches tend to include social, moral, and practical issues. However, whether defined in narrower or broader terms, contemporary views of theoretical and philosophical psychology have little room for the history of psychology. In this chapter, I argue that it plays an essential role in theoretical psychology, by making the theoretical psychologist aware of at least two things: the historical contingency of the very idea of theoretical psychology, and the persistent philosophical problems that underlie psychological science. To illustrate my thesis, I propose a two-layered approach in which the history of psychology plays a double role in theoretical psychology: it offers an immediate context for contemporary proposals and a deep connection with the long development of psychology. I conclude that the history of psychology is vital for re-env...
A. Brock (Ed.), Internationalizing the history of Psychology, 2006
The paper begins with a comparison between the history of the neologisms of ontology and psychology. If from a historical point of view there are many similarities of the diffusion of the two terms, from an epistemological point of view we encounter great differences. Ontology has always been collocated in the field of metaphysics, while psychology, before becoming an independent science, was a discipline divided between physics and metaphysics. Next, there is a focus on the debate of the status of the science of the soul developed in the centuries since Aristotle (2.1). During the Reformation Era the term was coined and the science of psychology had a great diffusion amongst philosophers and in university disputes (2.2). The paper sustains several new historical findings in regards to the first occurrences of the term. A historical assessment (3) on the early history of psychology concludes the paper
After reading , "What Lies in the Future of Teaching the History of Psychology," it was clear to me that the study of the history of psychology-by both researcher and student alike--is not only an area under some contention, but that the entire field is somehow deeply and wonderfully paradoxical.
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It is the introduction of the special issue of Universitas Psychologica on History of Psychology in Latin and Iberoamerica.
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